I am sure every critic in any art medium can be argued to have one artist they hold as being the most underrated they have ever encountered. Allan obviously felt this way about Yoshida and went out of his way to promote his work. Ebert argued strongly for Herzog, and so on. While I don’t think Uchida is anywhere as talented as either of those great directors, if I had to pick one unknown director I relentlessly pursue any film they made that can be found, it would be Uchida. The fact alone that this series has had less than 10 entries and already I am making a second one about a film by Uchida is probably indication enough that I want to promote his work. Uchida is not a master on the scale of the big four of Japanese cinema, but there is no conceivable reason to me that none of his films are available on DVD in the Western world save a few of his samurai films. It is hard to think of any directors who are more unfairly neglected in world cinema. Uchida was a sort of an early Japanese Orson Welles who had great artistic vision but often fought with a repressive studio system. The result of Uchida’s rebellious nature is that his films manage to deal with much deeper social themes than almost any other Japanese films of his era. I feel that his pre-war material is his most bold and therefore most interesting, while his postwar output is somewhat more neutered. That all being said, Policeman has been one of my most coveted films for some time along with Uchida’s The Mad Fox (if you have it, please email me), and my first viewing after such a long period of anticipation surely clouded my judgement somewhat as to its quality. However, for what it’s worth, Policeman lived up to its hype for me.

Itami is a young police officer who runs into an old friend, Tetsuo, after stopping his car at a roadblock. The two haven’t seen each other in years and though they rekindle their friendship, it is obvious they are leading very different lifestyles. Tetsuo has abandoned his father’s company and has set out on his own sort of business. Itami starts to slowly realize that his friend’s business may be the same group of gangsters he is struggling to stop in his professional life. However, Itami is deeply conflicted between his duties as a police officer and his implied homosexual feelings for Tetsuo. This all builds to a climax that feels straight out of nearly every gangster film of the era that one can probably see coming just by reading the previous paragraph. The plot is not really what is important about this film though. I don’t know the full history of this film but knowing what I do about Uchida’s output this is probably one of his last pre-war efforts in the studio system as the propaganda elements and the fact it was seen as necessary to make Tetsuo’s gang Communists seem very uncharacteristic of Uchida’s otherwise very leftist films of the era. However, with these stroy compromises come larger budgets and resources, and as a result, Policeman is almost certainly the most visually interesting of Uchida’s pre-war efforts. The climax and action sequences rival those of late-silent thriller masterpieces such as Lang’s Spies and are more interesting than even those of the American contemporaries such as The Public Enemy. Uchida was obviously a master of silent film editing and more obviously cinematography.

Policeman’s characters may not be the most complex in this film as they are in Earth, possibly as a result of studio interference. However, I cannot overstate how fascinating the final chase sequence really is. There are shots of actors running across rooftops in pitch black lit only by spotlights that will stay with you for a long time after the film’s runtime is over. Similarly there are shots where the camera pans between two different sets to lead to one clash done in one shot that stands out to me in the halls of silent cinema. Similarly there are tracking shots of the gangsters sprinting for their lives which are admittedly sped up but combined with the darkness and the unique use of lighting manage to make this chase sequence far greater than even that of Hitchcock’s Blackmail. The whole sequence is so masterful in setting a tone of paranoia and doom, that it truly left me astounded. Sure, there are problems with the characters and perhaps the middle is too padded with flashback sequences but this is truly what a thriller should strive to be – thrilling. Perhaps the most accessible of Uchida’s early work and one that did not fail to impress me after over half a decade of lusting for a copy. Seriously even if you can only see it in a VHS-quality copy lacking a soundtrack and roughly half an hour of footage (if one trusts imdb), this film is a must-see for anyone who wants to see the true potential of silent Japanese cinema.

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Yes Allan was smitten with Yoshida in uncompromising terms and he succeeded in making many see the light with this under-exposed-in-the-West master craftsman. He also adored Uchida and as a result I engaged with this comparatively unheralded master for a few films other than this one. EARTH, which you glowingly frame here is of course a supreme masterpiece. Another fascinating, beautifully written review of a film that has earned some urgency for the most passionate cineastes. So thrilled Uchida is featured here Jared!

Reblogged this on Noirish and commented:
***Over at Wonders in the Dark, in his regular “Fish Obscuro” column, Jared Dec has a tremendous account of a movie that should I think be of great interest to many readers of this site. He’s kindly given me permission to reblog here.

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